George walks to the far side of the room. We don’t speak as I make my way to the back of the space. Taking the three steps, I climb up onto the podium and push the curtain that hangs on the wall behind it. Beyond the curtain is a room.
Bending down, I open the safe and remove the phone from it. Switching it on, I wait for it to power up. Once it does, I check to see if I have any messages from my father. Nothing. Turning it off, I place it back in the safe. I could have kept it on me, but I didn’t want anyone to know that I still took orders from my father. That kind of knowledge could undermine my authority and one day I would lead.
George enters the room, his timing perfect once I had the safe door closed. He must have been waiting outside until he heard the safe close.
I wash my hands slowly. Thirty seconds to be exact. Letting him wait a bit longer, hoping this conversation won’t happen. Turning to George, he is waiting with a red hand towel that I take and dry my hands. The cuts sting, but I ignore the pain.
“In life, there are only a few things we must do.” His words are low, they are meant just for my ears. No one else is back here with us, but years of being in our family had taught him to be careful. “One of those is respecting traditions.”
“I greeted them, didn’t I?” I hand the towel back to George, a part of me knows I have the power to end this charade with George, but I don’t.
“You terrified them,” George speaks with his back to me and I hate how old he has gotten. I hate how his fingers twist slightly inwards. The wrinkles on his hands remind me of his age.
I exhale and look away from him. “Why do you care, George? You did as my father requested. My reaction doesn’t affect you.”
He turns around, his smile is quick. “This isn’t about me, Lucas.”
I hate when he refers to me as Lucas, instead of Master Lucas. It meant he is serious. It meant he cares. Caring in this world is dangerous and foolish.
“This is about you, my boy. You will have to marry one of those ladies no matter what. So don’t make it so hard on yourself.”
I clap George gently on the arm. “When you retire, I’ll stop rebelling,” I tell him.
His smile is sad. He can’t retire, only my father can release him of his duties which he won’t do. George will leave this house in a wooden casket. The depressing thought has me stepping away from him. George gives a jerk of his chin like he sees the change in me, he tries to stand a bit straighter but his old body doesn’t do much. Yet, his eyes hold the youth I often see in him.
“The Lewis’s collected the body.” He informs me while opening a press and taking out large white pillar candles.
I rub my jaw. “I hope you gave our condolences.” It’s a messy situation.
“Of course, Master Lucas.” George places the pillar candles on the top of the wooden cabinet, before reaching back in and taking out a box of large matches.
“Has a verdict come back on what caused his death?”
I can still see him convulsing in the chair. He was choking on his own screams. We had stood and watched, unable to do much as his body slowly stopped jerking and he came to an abrupt stop. Smoke had filled the glass box and no one had spoken. When the shock wore off, everyone looked to me like I had an answer to what we had just witnessed. All I had thought about at that moment was my father. I would never live it down, even if it was an electrical malfunction. Somehow he would make it my fault.
“The electrician said the trip wire was removed.”
A part of me is surprised that the answer is what I thought. “So if it was removed, someone had to do it?”
George looks at me now with weariness in his eyes. “Yes, Master Lucas.”
Who? I didn’t think any of the other members held a grudge against Declan. I leave the small room and cross the podium. The chairs are set up in a circle. The servants are gone.
I walk to the left of the room where one large glass cube sits. It’s the judgment room. It’s fair. It’s always been the way of our kind. We didn’t get authorities involved in our troubles. We dealt with it ourselves. We just never had a punishment to go so wrong. Someone had to do that before the punishment commenced. Someone who had access to the back rooms, where the switchboard is.
It was meant to be five shocks of electricity. That was Declan’s punishment for disobeying my father. No more. No less. But the switch never kicked in. The current never stopped.
George stands beside me now. Both of us on the edge of the red rope that stops us from touching the glass cube. It’s a warning to everyone not to interfere with the punishment. Even if it was a family member or a lover, it didn’t matter; you had no right to stop it. In my lifetime I never saw anyone try to stop a punishment.
“There is something else, Master Lucas.”
I focus on George in the glass. I know he is going to start about picking a wife again. His intentions are good, but he has to know that it won’t change anything.
“It won’t matter, George. I can pick one if I want, but my father will always have the final say. Anyway, I have no interest in a wife.”
It looks like he’s smiling in the glass, so I glance at him but he isn’t. “It’s not the matter of you selecting a wife, Master Lucas. It’s the matter in regard to Declan Lewis’s remains.”
I wait and George faces me. “He seemed to be missing a finger.”
I rub my jaw, wanting to ask if he’s sure. “Would the force of the electrocution have done it?”
This is something that would bring my father home and I wanted him to stay away for as long as possible.
“That was my thoughts, Master Lucas, when I first heard but no. It was severed with a sharp object. Post Mortem.”
“What was the Lewis family told?” My skin prickles with the thoughts of who would do this. It must be someone who had access and my mind immediately jumps to Henry, with his little wooden box. Was the finger inside it? He hid it when I had arrived. Had he been admiring his handy work?
“They were told that it was due to the electricity.” George flickers a glance to the left before looking back at me. “They did request the finger. But we can’t seem to find it.”
“Does my father know what’s happened?” I cross my arms over my chest. I want to leave right now and find out if the finger is in the box that Henry has been playing with. I want it to be him so I can forget about this situation, but another part of me doesn’t want it to be my brother, no matter how much I hate him. He had no dealings with this part of the family. So why would he hurt Declan? What punishment would my father give him if he is responsible? Would he turn a blind eye?
My main thought was why would anyone hurt Declan?
“Yes, and he said he is leaving it in your hands to find out who has committed this crime, and to punish them with how you see fit?”
I raise a brow at that I get to pick the punishment? That is a first. It is normally his rules, or should I say their rules that were read from a book passed down from one generation to another.
“Did he give any other instructions?”
George shakes his head.
“Like how creative I can be in delving out my punishment.”
“No, Master Lucas.” Worry worms its way around George’s words.
I need to find Henry and question him. If it is him, I get to punish him in how I see fit. A smile grows slowly across my face and when I glance at George, his worry has turned to dread.